Search - Louis Sclavis, Jean-Louis Matinier, Francois Merville :: Louis Sclavis: Dans la nuit

In crafting new music for Dans la Nuit ("In the night"), a recently restored French silent film from 1930, French clarinetist Louis Sclavis had to do quite a balancing act. A distinctive soloist known for his work in avant-garde jazz circles (check out his terrific 2001 ECM release L'Affrontement des Prétendants, weakly translated as "The Confrontation of the Applicants"), he had to temper that stylistic approach to absorb traditional elements. He also had to think in both narrative and visual terms. Working with an exceptional cast, including cellist Vincent Courtois and drummer/marimba player François Merville of his working quintet and accordionist Jean-Louis Matinier and violinist Dominique Pifarély of past projects, Sclavis rises to the challenge. The warm nostalgia that informs the main theme is offset by subtle modernistic touches that reflect the dark aspects of Charles Vanel's domestic drama, which involves a disfigured quarry worker and his adulterous wife. Alternately dreamy and bracing, with a soupçon of minimalism, the music deepens with repeated listenings. --Lloyd Sachs